VOCAL & CHORAL COLLECTIONS

ANTHEMS FROM KING’S COLLEGE (“English Cathedral Anthems from 1890-1940”)

Bainton, Ernest: And I saw a new Heaven…

Bairstow, Edward: Let all Mortal Flesh…

Bullock, Ernest: Give us the Wings of Faith

Darke, Harold: O Gladsome Light!

Gardner, Henry Balfour: The Evening Hymn

Hadley, Patrick: My Beloved Spake

Harris, William: Faire is the Heaven…

Harwood, Basil: O, How Glorious…

Lay, Henry: A Prayer for King Henry VI.

Naylar, Edward: Vox Decentis: Clama…

Parry, Sir Hubert: I was glad…

Stanford, Sir Charles: Beati Quorum via.

Wood, Charles: Hail, Gladdening Light!

All performed by Sir David Willcox & the Choir of King’s College Church, Cambridge. Organist: James Lancelot

ARKIPOVA, Irina (Mezzo-Soprano):

Rimsky-Korsakov: “The Tsar’s Bride”: Duet of Lyubasha & Griyaznoi, Act 1. w/ Yevgeni Nechipallo as Gryzanoi; Melik-Pasheyev, con. Bolshoi Theater Orch. (T: 8:25)

“ “ : “ “ “ : Intermezzo & Scene w/ Bomelius & Lyubasha. Act 2. w/ Georgi Shchulpin as Bomelius & Yevgeni Nechicapllo as Gryaznoi. Melik-Pashayev, conductor. (T: 16:50)

Rimsky-Korsakov: “The Snow Maiden”, Prologue. Melik-Pashyev; Bolshoi O. (T:5:06)

“ “ “ “ “ :: Aria of Spring, Act 4..” “ “ (T: 4:48)

“ “ : “ “ “ : Lel’s First Song, Act 1. (T: 3:35)

“ “ : “ “ “ : Lel’s 2nd Song, Act 1 (Time: 2:25)

“ “ : “ “ “ : Lel’s 3rd Song, Act 3. (T: 3:25)

BARBER: “Vanessa”. World Premiere, Metropolitan opera under Mitropoulos (see listing under “Mitropoulos” for more details.

BAYREUTH, 1936 Season, Highlights from:

Lohengrin: Konigsgebet (Mein Herr Und Gott): Margarete Klose, alto; Maria Meuller, soprano; Franz Voelker, tenor; Jaro Prohaska, baritone; Josef von Manowarda, bass. Prelude to Act III. Bridal Chorus. Bridal Chamber Scene (Meuller, Voelker). Lohengrin’s Narrative (Franz Volker, tenor); Orchestra & Chorus of Bayreuth, conducted by Heinz Tietjen.

Siegfried: Forging Song (Max Lorentz, tenor); Hammer Song (Max Lorentz & Erich Zimmermann, tenors; Forest Murmurs (Lorentz). Heinz Tietjen, conductor; Bayreuth Orch and chorus.

Tannhauser: Rome Narrative. Max Lorentz, tenor; Schmidt-Isserstedt, cond.

BERG:

“Lulu”. Herbert Haefner; Vienna Symphony Orch; Ilona Steingruber; Otto Wiener; (FIRST complete recording, circa 1949. Scource has patches of light wear; nothing major)

** BOLSHOI THEATER COMMEMORATIVE EDITION **

This lavish, magnificently packaged collection achieved only minuscule distribution in the U.S. The excerpts and arias range from 1908 to the mid-Seventies and include performances of legendary rarity and artistic merit. Because of the sheer number of selections filling this 8-disc anthology, I’ve prepared a separate listing for it, so that collectors of vocal artists’ work can cherry-pick the individual items they especially want. Just email me and put “Bolshoi Collection” in the subject line and I will upload that catalogue for your delectation.

DEBUSSY: Pelleas et Melisande. Live. Rome Opera, Dec. 1954. Von Karajan; Schwarzkopf, Haeflinger, Roux, Petri, Gayraud, etc. (In my opinion, one of Von K’s finest achievements in the opera pit – very passionate yet elegant; soloists to die for.)

DELIUS: Fennimore and Gerda (complete). Cast: Fennimore by Sybil Michelow; Niels by John Cameron; Counciler Skinnerup by Rankin Busby; Gerda by Jeanette SINCLAIR. Conductor: Stanford Robinson. BBC Symphony Orch. And the Ambrosian Singers. Live broadcast, 1962. (Time: About 2 hours).

DELIUS: Koanga. Conductor: Paul Galloway. Other performers unknown. Provenance of recording: Live performance, Washington D.C., 1970 (stereo). (Time: Approx. two hours)

DELIUS: A Village Romero and Juliet. Conductor: Meredicth Davies. Soloists, chorus & Orchestra of Sadlers’ Wells (Live, April 10, 1962).

EGK, Werner:

Peer Gynt. Heinz Wallberg; Solosists, chorus & Orch. of the Bavarian Radio.

HANDEL:

Samson. Raymond Leppard; Janet Baker; Helen Watts; Robert Tear; Benjamin Luxon; John Shirley-Quirk; English Chamber Orchestra. (Time: 212:38)

HENZE, Hans Werner:

“Ein Landartz”, Radio Opera After Franz Kafka. Sixten EHRLING; w/ Swedish R.S.O. (T: 24:49)

HERRMANN, Bernard:

Wuthering Heights. Composer; John Kitchener, bar; Pamela Bowden, mezzo; Pro Arte Orchestra

JANACEK: From the House of the Dead. Superbly idiomatic performance by the forces of the Prague National Theater, conducted by Bohumil Gregor, circa 1971-74.

Cast includes baritone Vaclav Bednar; Helana Tattersmuschova, sop.; Beno Blachut, tenor; Jaroslav Striska, tenor; Hanus Thein, bass; and Antonin Votava, tenor. The “Prisoners Chorus” is awesome; Source has good stereo sound, with some sonic grit in the more congested loud passages.

KODALY, Zoltan: The Spinning Room. Production of Budapest Radio, circa 1975. Conductor is Ferencsik, w/ Budapest Philharmonic and numerous unknown but delightfully idiomatic soloists. Approx time: 2 hours. Excellent sound.

MAGNARD: “Guercoeur” – A Musical Tragedy. Unidentified Performers (obviously a live performance, presumably of French origin. (The more I hear of Magnard’s music, the more convinced I become that he ranks with the greatest of his generation. This is an opera in all but name, and his only vocal/orchestral work on an operatic scale. Wagner’s influence looms large, of course, but subsumed to Magnard’s Gallic sensibilities. An exquisite work; its rarity is inexplicable. I estimate the timing to be about 1.5 hours.

MILHAUD:

“Christophe Colombe”. Manuel Rosenthal; soloists, chorus & Orchestra of the Theatre des Champs-Elysses, world premiere, May, 1956. (2 hours 12 minuutes). Huge, sprawling, shaggy oratorio-cum-opera, both thrilling and exhausting, inspired and barren; gooey romantic and polytonally compex. When Mitropoulos gave it in NY, a year or two later, half the patrons walked out at intermission, and the stalwarts who remained broke into cheers when Comumbus finally shouts: “Land Ho!” It’s neither as good as the composer hoped, nor nearly as awful as the critics said it was – judge for yourself!)

MUSGRAVE. Thea:

Mary, Queen of Scots. Peter Mark, cond; Virginia Opera Association; Live, 1978, American Premiere. (Time: Appox. 2:30) This opera cause quite a stir when first performed – an old-fashioned costume epic, with moderately “modern” music. It does not seem to have had long legs, although when I replayed part of the tape while making this list, I found it mostly quite absorbing and appropriately dramatic, if not distinguished by any particularly ravishing arias or stirring choruses. One might, in time, come to like it.

MUSSORGSKY:

Kovanshchina. Complete live Bolshoi Theater production, c. 1971. Boris Khaikin, cond; Irina Arkipova, sop; Aleksei Krivchenya; Vladimir Pyavko; Viktor Nechipailo; Bolshoi Orchestra & Chorus. (Time approx. 3.5 hours)

PROKOFIEV:

War and Peace. First recording of complete score; conducted by the enigmatic Werner Jensen; Belgrade Opera Forces, include Radmila Vasovic-Bokachevi as Natashia; Busan Popovic as Andrei; Djordje Djurdjevic as Kotousov. (Was issued in U.S. by that great old label MGM Records, in a lavish, cloth-bound, coffee-table album. The really grandiose scenes require stereo for full effect, of course, but otherwise, the sonics are quite decent. A genuine collectors’ item, then, but a thoroughly respectable performance, too, and the ONLY one any of us could buy, for about 10 years. Tpday, copies are unbelievably rare, and this Source is in near-mint condition.)

PUCCINI:

Madama Butterfly. Von Karajan; Maria CALLAS; Nicolai Gedda. (Live at La Scala, Milan, c. 1956)

Tosca. 2-disc highlights from famed Mitropoulos production at the Met in 1955. Cast includes Dorothy Kirsten; Danielle Barioni; Frank Guarerra.

Turandot. Complete live performance, 1961; Leopold STOKOWSKI; Birgit Nilson; Franco Corelli; Anna Moffo; Frank Guarrera, etc. (Rudolph Bing, in his bitchy and shamelessly self-promoting autobiography, makes much of Stokie’s “fussy” attempts to clarify Puccini’s scoring ambiguities, his amateurish way of cue-ing choruses – something Stokowski had been doing in London when Bing was being potty-trained – and his general aloofness (other observers reagarded it as “professionalism and discipline”), and disparagingly looks down his snooty aristocratic nose at the very IDEA of Stokowski being taken seriously as an opera conductor. Stokie’s amazing, though infrequent, triumphs in the opera pit give the life to that. What’s really infuriating is how proud Bing is to write: “We never invited him back”. As this unfortunately not-very-vivid in-house pirate tape reveals, it was everybody’s loss that he was NOT “invited back”, for this is as taut, dramatic, and sweeping a “Turandot” as you could wish; and, my God, look at the singers!)

RACHMANINOFF:

Francesca da Rimini, Op. 25. Mark Ermler conducting Soloists, Chorusm and Orchestra of the Bolshoi. (First complete performance ever, staged in 1975 or 76. Given the subject matter, it could hardly fail to have its moment – the young Rachmaninoff was completely turned on by this saga of illicit love and damnation and he labored on this one-act operatic treatment for five years, then sold all the rights to a schyster music publisher for about $40. At age nineteen, the romantic young composer was too above-the-clouds to pay attention such mundane matters as copyright laws.., Since it runs only about 65 minutes, and contains, in embryo, many examples of Rachmaninoff’s trademark Slavic gloom and passionate striving against the indifferent Fates, Francesca should be accorded a revival now and then. My (and probably your) chance of ever seeing it done live are as good as a snowball’s in Hell, but this Bolshoi in-performance reading is good enough , despite (or maybe because of) its occasional rawness, to give you an idea of what a fully-staged version might achieve. (Standing ovations for the soloists and conductor who had the cajones to pull it off, for one thing!)

Anyone listening to this opera blind, and clueless, would surely think: “This young firebrand has a great future writing…um…piano concertos, maybe?”

(Time: 65:38)

Von SUPPE:

Beautiful Galathea. Elizabeth Roon, sop; Kurt Preger, bar.; Waldemar Kmentt, tenor; Otto Weiner, bass; conductor is Anton Paulik, w/ Vienna State Opera Orch & Chorus. (Not many recordings of this one – quite charming. T:47:31)

TCHAIKOVSKY:

“Iolanthe”. Mark Ermler; Tamara Sorokina; Yevgeny Nesterenko; Vladimir Stlantov; Yuri Mazurok; Orchestra & Chorus of the Bolshoi Theater. (Time: 88:51)

WAGNER:

“Die Walkurie”: Abridgement comprising about one-third of the whole; Metropolitan Opera Live, 1956-57 season. Superlative cast including Blanche Thebom, Ramon Virnay, Hermann Uhde, and Marthat Lipton; Dimitri’s conducting is a bit, um, unorthodox at some places, but always fiercely intense.

“Twilight of the Gods” (Gotterdammerung) – Last two scenes only. Reginald GOODALL; Sadler’s Wells Orch. % Chours; Rita Hunter as Brunnhilde. This grand-finale excerpt presents some of the best of Goodall’s fabled English version. The massive deliberation, and clean delineation of part-writing, creates a truly majestic closing, one that ranks Goodall, if not a seat on the Mt. Olympus of conductors, but at least a visiting pass!)

“Gotterdammerung” (Complete). Hans Swarovsky; Nadezda Kniplova (Brunnhilde); Otto von Rohr (Hagen); Gerald McKee (Siegfried); Ditha Sommer (Gutrune), etc; Seuddeutsche Philharmonic and Chorus of the Vienna State Opera (Broadcast performance from 1972, far as I can figure. Soloists not exactly legends, but it’s one of the only full operas conducted by Swarovsky and it’s pretty darn good. Decent stereo)

von WEBER:

Der Freisheutz. Lovro von MATACIC; Berlin State Opera; Live, circa late Sixties. Terrifically dramatic, even melodramatic, version (spooky wolf calls!) with a stellar cast, including Gottlob Frick, Claire Watson, Lotte Schadle, Klaus Lang, & Claudio Nicolai. Only example I have of von Matacic as an opera conductor, and more’s the pity. Decent stereo sound, though rather lacking in depth.

Der Frieschuetz: Furtwangler; Salzburg Festival, 1954. Vienna Philharmonic & Vienna State Opera Chorus. Alfred Poell; Oskar Czerwenka; Hans Hopf; Kurt Boehme; Rita Streich; Otto Edelmann. (Probably his finest opera recording outside of Wagner and the legendary Salzbug “Don Giovanni”. Essential collectors’ item. Mono sound, of course, and it sometimes strays off-mike, but what the hell?)

VERDI: Othello. FURTWANGLER; Vienna Philharmonic; Live, Salzburg Festival, 1951. (See comments under “Furtwangler”)

VERDI: La Forza del Destino. MITROPOULOS W/ Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Siepi!; Florence Festival, 1953. What a cast! What a HOT performance!

Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe

(Wherein one may find numerous and sundry Treasures and Freak-show Items. The Weird, the Unclassifiable, the Abominable, that “classical Party Record” you heard once, when you were stoned, in 1967 and have never seen since – You May Find it Here!!)

Baudilaire: “Flowers of Evil:” Yvette Mimieaux, speaker; Ali Akbahr Khan, sitar. (Not as campy as you’d expect – she reads the poems with plenty of sultry inflection and the sitar improvisations would probably have appealed to Baudilaire as well, depending on his hash-hish intake at the time he heard them.)

Alexander King reads from his works, including the best-seller “Mine Enemy Grows Older”. Remember this guy? I barely do, but it’s witty stuff, sort of James Thurberish.

“Mickey Spillane Reads a Mike Hammer Adventure”. (w/ music by Stan Purdy). (Source is a 10-inch LP issued by the “VL” label – maybe their only issue. I had the pleasure of chatting with Mr. Spillane -- who really is a most charming, quick-witted, and affable gentleman without the slightest pretensions of “literary” stature – as in, “Of course I write this stuff for money! And I’ve had a damned good time doing it, too!” – and as far as he remembers, only two thousand copies were pressed; distribution was apparently by pack mules and mentally deficient St. Bernards, because he himself never saw a copy in any record store, and was flabbergasted to see me holding one. Exactly where I found it, I cannot remember – “thrift” store probably, sometime around 1959 – and it had been “rode hard and put up wet” by the time I bought it, so expect considerable sonic grunge. But what a camp classic! Spillane reads his own script in a voice like a bucket full of rusty bolts, and Purdy’s soundtrack makes the music from “Peter Gunn” sound like late Beethoven, but it too is charming in its generic “tough guy” style. I wish the Source were in better condition, but at least it’s playable and understandable, and your chances of ever hearing it or finding another copy are significantly less than your chances of spotting the Loch Ness Monster in the Central Park reservoir. Timing is roughly 25 minutes. If you’ve read this far, you already know whether this is for you or not, but without doubt, it’s been one of my most popular Party Records for four decades – wait until you hear Spillane’s hard-breathing dialogue with the slinky dame named…Velda!

SHOWS & SOUNDTRACKS:

“Spoon River Anthology” (Edgar Lee Masters) From the early Sixties, in good stereo, a staged reading/production of Masters’ poetic epic. An impressive cast: Betty Garrett; Robert Elston; Joyce van Patten; Charles Aidman. (Source tape has no timings; approx. 50 minutes)

“To Have and Have Not” (Ernest Hemingway) Charming example of Golden Age Radio Theater (October 14, 1946), starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall!

FOLK & ETHNIC

POP & ROCK

JAZZ & BLUES